Remember back in the day when we used to all read the same book for class? But as time passed, we switched things up and embraced reading passages in small groups, prepared with a stack of comprehension questions. Let me tell you, those teachers of ours were onto something big with those novel studies. I started looking into using novel studies and realized all the different activities we could do to help our students practice their reading comprehension skills. Today, I am sharing with you how novel studies can take your students’ reading comprehension skills to the next level.
What Are Novel Studies?
Let’s chat about what novel studies mean for our elementary students. Novel studies help our students journey through the pages of a book with fun activities and discussions. We pick a book, gather our classmates, and dive into the story.
But. . . a novel study is so much more! It’s the perfect backdrop for working on a variety of reading comprehension skills and strategies. From character traits to theme, predicting to summarizing, you can do them all with one novel. No more searching for different mentor texts to teach each reading skill.
Novel studies are also versatile. A great feature of novel studies is that we can do them as a whole class or in small groups. I have done both, so choose what works best for you! We tackle comprehension questions, explore different characters and their worlds, and even imagine ourselves in their shoes. Some activities have us teaming up with our friends. We’ll chat about the plot twists and share our predictions of what might happen next.
It’s like having our own little book club! In fact, some schools have started referring to their reading time as Book Club time. It’s still the time when their students gather into their groups to read and work on activities but with a bit of a different twist than the typical reading passages you might be used to!
Why Are Novel Studies Important For Our Reading Comprehension Skills?
First, they’re like a turbo boost for our understanding. When we dive into a book with our students, we’re not just reading words on a page. We’re unpacking the story, analyzing the characters’ motivations, and unraveling the plot twists. It’s like putting together a puzzle, where every piece gives us a deeper understanding of the big picture.
Novel studies also help us flex our thinking muscles. We’re able to make connections between what we’re reading and our own lives, or even other books we’ve read. After we finish one section of reading, we can predict what could happen next based on what we have read so far.
Novel studies also provide guidelines or prompts to help us pinpoint the main details of the chapters we read. Based on those details, we can make inferences and practice summarizing. By paying attention to the descriptive details, we can also practice visualizing what is happening in our stories.
So, bottom line? Novel studies are important because they make us better readers, thinkers, and collaborators. By using them, we are bringing stories to life by being active readers as we strengthen our reading comprehension skills.
How I Use My Novel Studies
Over the years, I have created a tentative schedule of how I break apart novel studies. For some years, I have been able to consistently use this format. Other years, not so much because I want to adapt to what my kiddos need. Each day of the week, I hope to focus on different reading comprehension skills.
On Monday and Wednesday, we will read a chapter or a few, depending on the length, as a whole class or in small groups. After reading, we may focus on analyzing a character by jotting down important details we learned from the day’s reading.
On Tuesday, I’ll have my kiddos meet in small groups to discuss group questions. I’ll be hopping around to each group as they work. They’ll then work on the comprehension questions by using their novels to find evidence to answer them.
On Thursdays, we will work on summarizing and visualizing activity pages from our novel study. I have discovered that some of my readers prefer to illustrate what they picture and then write, while others do the reverse. Both are important skills to practice to demonstrate comprehension of what we are reading.
Fridays are a catch-up day. If anyone needs more time with visualizations, summarizing, or more support over what was read, this day is blocked off for that. While others are finishing up, I have the word searches, drawing activities based on the novel, and reflective pages on hand for the other students to continue exploring our novel. If we are all in a good spot, I’ll use this time to place them back into small groups to chat about the book some more!
Engaging Novel Studies for the Elementary Classroom
I love using novel studies in my classroom for all the reasons I have already stated. Let’s explore some of my favorite novel studies and the reading comprehension skills they have to offer! If you have never used a novel study or are looking for a new one, all of these get two thumbs up from teachers and students!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Reading Comprehension Skills
One thing to keep in mind with novel studies is that you want to make sure they appeal to different learning styles. Each activity should also have targeted reading comprehension skills. When I am looking for novel studies, I want to make sure they offer comprehension question pages that have various formats of questioning. In my Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Novel Study, my kiddos have access to one-word responses, short answers, and multiple choice for a handful of chapters at a time. Other activities include a graphic organizer to keep track of the characters and pages to visualize important scenes or character events. A favorite among my students is designing their own golden ticket. Some of my favorites include the word study pages and word searches to focus on important or new vocabulary.
Charlotte’s Web Reading Comprehension Skills
When I use my Charlotte’s Web Novel Study, I prepare the chapter comprehension questions for my students at their level. This way, I know throughout the study which parts my students understand and which parts we need to spend some time on. Once comprehension is underway, I want to make sure my students have a strong understanding of the main characters. For morning work or for activities during reading time, they’ll keep notes on the characters’ personalities, likes, appearances, and where they live.
Another reading comprehension skill this novel study focuses on is making comparisons. My students have the chance to use a Venn Diagram to compare a goose and Wilbur as well as Charlotte and the sheep. This helps them to look for context clues for each animal or character they are comparing. They then can determine if it’s a difference or if the detail is something they both have in common.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Reading Comprehension Skills
This Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Novel Study is bursting with different reading comprehension skills! These activities can be used during your reading block, but I have also used them for morning work or independent time. The repetitiveness of the structure of these novel studies helps make comprehension approachable for our students. They know what to expect and how to navigate the activities with confidence!
In this novel study, my students frequently use different reading comprehension skills such as cause and effect, inferencing, and visualizing. They practice solving true and false statements and using evidence from their text to confirm their answer. Using that evidence again in their short answer responses to explain their thinking. They also have activities that help them understand new vocabulary. They’re thinking is stretched with the vocabulary by working with homophones, similes, antonyms, and definitions.
Sarah, Plain and Tall Reading Comprehension Skills
Developing reading comprehension skills is even more important when working with different genres. Being able to understand what is happening, in the order it’s happening, and why is crucial to being able to visualize, infer, and connect to the characters.
The Sarah, Plain and Tall Novel Study ties in historical fiction, which can be tricky for some students. Comprehension questions over the main events and vocabulary are given to help them keep the details in order. This time, they are also offered in a newspaper format. This is always a big hit with my kiddos because they put all their newspaper pages together by the end. It creates an overview of the major events and characters, which is helpful for the end of the novel assessment or project.
An important reading comprehension skill to develop is the ability to imagine oneself in a character’s shoes. Throughout the novel, our students have the chance to think about and describe what they would do in certain situations. This helps them make connections between themselves, the characters, and the events. They also have the chance to work on making comparisons between the characters or settings with a Venn Diagram.
James and the Giant Peach Reading Comprehension Skills
This James and the Giant Peach Novel Study makes reading exciting for our students! This novel study is jam-packed with fun activities! Some of my favorites have the students interpreting story quotes and analyzing all the characters and their personalities. This is a fast-paced story, but the comprehension questions help you to see how your readers understand the story with so many different characters. I make sure to have my kiddos meet in small groups several times and work through some of the discussion questions. This helps them work on their listening and public speaking skills. They’ll also develop strong reading comprehension skills because they are hearing different perspectives that may help to expand their understanding.
When we are finished reading this novel, we watch the movie version. My kiddos are always blown away by the similarities and differences between the novel and the movie. They will literally exclaim when the movie does something different. This opens up a great discussion about why movies may change or add parts that make them stand apart from the novel. I have them jot down details that are the same and different so they can help contribute to our conversation after the movie. This also helps me to see what they remember from their reading!
For even more novel studies to help your students develop their reading comprehension skills, come visit my TPT store, Stop and Smell the Crayons.
Strengthen Your Students’ Reading Comprehension Skills With Novel Studies
Novel studies are more than just a tool for teaching reading comprehension skills. They’re the gateway to a world of imagination, discovery, and growth. From dissecting plot twists to diving into character analysis, they offer endless opportunities for our students to strengthen their skills while having a blast. Whether it’s through exploring the whimsical world of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or unraveling the heartwarming tale of “Charlotte’s Web,” novel studies empower our students to become active readers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. Embrace the power of novel studies and watch as your students’ reading comprehension skills soar to new heights.
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